Infectious and communicable diseases are a rising concern in public health. It’s essential to monitor the health of our communities, especially from easily transmissible diseases, because the longer an untreated case goes unmanaged, the probability of transmission increases while the individual’s holistic health declines and symptoms become more exacerbated. According to data regarding HIV in Oregon, over 200 new HIV cases are diagnosed annually, with increases in new cases in rural areas in recent years. The data also indicates that 1,087 people living in Oregon may be unaware that they are living with HIV. Federally qualified health centers (FQHCs) are crucial access points for preventing, detecting, and treating infectious diseases. In fact, half of all new HIV cases in Oregon are diagnosed in primary care. Many community health centers in Oregon are increasing efforts to screen, diagnose, and treat individuals living with or at risk of acquiring HIV. FQHCs report their effectiveness of providing services through the Uniform Data System (UDS). One of the measures in UDS is HIV Linkage to Care, defined as percentage of newly diagnosed HIV-positive cases that receive follow-up care within 30 days of diagnosis.

Today, the Oregon Primary Care Association is highlighting how Oregon community health centers are providing immediate treatment to people living with HIV and a partnership to support access to life-saving medications. You’ll learn:

• How community health centers are increasing efforts to serve people living with Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) with assistance from OPCA’s HIV and STI Program,
• How the HIV and STI Program collaborates with CAREAssist to support health centers, and
• How you can be a CHC advocate by supporting the 340B Drug Pricing Program, which increases access to life-saving medications.

Resources, tools, and upcoming learning opportunities mentioned in this blog are provided in the CHC Toolbox section.

Rapid Start: Immediate Treatment of HIV

The HIV and STI Program within the Oregon Primary Care Association supports Community Health Centers (CHCs) by providing training, technical assistance, and one-on-one mentorship to providers along the HIV care continuum. This post will focus on immediate antiretroviral therapy (ART) or Rapid Start. Rapid Start is a healthcare practice in which a primary care physician provides antiretroviral medication to an individual who is diagnosed with HIV as soon as possible to improve health outcomes, reduce transmission, and link to case management for continual viral suppression. The HIV and STI Program hosts a rapid start learning collaborative and community of practice to provide continual education, share best practices, and facilitate peer-to-peer learning related to rapid start implementation. If you want to learn more, please contact Rayna Appenzeller at rappenzeller@orpca.org. The team also partners with local organizations and state partners to enhance the capacity of health centers to provide high-quality care to people living with HIV, such as the CAREAssist program at the Oregon Health Authority.

During an interview, CAREAssist spoke with OPCA’s communications team to share how the program supports community health centers in Oregon, and collaboration efforts with the HIV and STI Program at OPCA. Read the interview below.

Joanna Whitmore, CAREAssist Program Manager within the Public Health Division at the Oregon Health Authority (OHA), has been with the program for 15 years. In her early teens, Joanna was inspired to volunteer as a candy striper at Mount Hood Medical Center.

“My grandmother, Hannah – who was a retired nurse – encouraged me enthusiastically in my candy striping career. Some years later, I found myself sitting in a medical terminology class at Mount Hood Community College, fast forward again and I found myself working for OHA in hopes of improving the health of fellow Oregonians.”
Joanna Whitmore, CAREAssist Program Manager

Joanna found throughout her career, she gravitated toward public health. It’s her passion to help people consider their well-being and access quality healthcare. When asked, “What inspires you about the public health movement in Oregon?”, she shared:

“The collective effort and collaboration across the entire state, and seeing health and well-being achieved for all Oregonians.
We recognize today, when communities are healthy in Oregon, OHA is at work, and that is inspiring to see that happening and seeing a healthier Oregon.”
Joanna Whitmore, CAREAssist Program Manager

CHC Advocate: Support 340B

The 340B Drug Pricing Program is a lifeline for Oregonians—particularly patients in rural areas and those with chronic health conditions—because it expands access to affordable, life-saving medications by encouraging pharmaceutical manufacturers to provide discounted prescription drug prices to eligible covered entities like FQHCs and CAREAssist. Community health centers without in-house pharmacies will contract with external pharmacies in their communities to expand patient access. Key benefits of contract pharmacies providing pharmacy services and dispensing discounted prescription drugs to eligible patients on behalf of the health center are:

• Reduces barriers to access, like transportation, for patients living in rural or underserved areas.
• Increases access to services and discounted medications that Medicaid does not typically cover.
• FQHCs must reinvest all 340B savings into patient care. Thus, health centers leverage 340B revenue to enhance dental services, provide additional coverage for Medicare enrollees, and initiate street outreach programs.

Since 2020, drug manufacturers have restricted FQHCs’ ability to contract with external pharmacies in their communities. These limitations adversely impact hundreds of thousands of Oregonians’ ability to access life-saving medication and healthcare in their communities.

Read how contract pharmacy restrictions are impacting CAREAssist.

The 340B program is a vital public health initiative, and the contract pharmacy provision is crucial for safeguarding access to affordable prescription drugs for patients of community health centers and safety-net providers. OPCA created the #Defend340B social media toolkit to illustrate how Oregon health centers use 340B to create and expand vital programs and how patients benefit from them. The toolkit includes a customizable set of graphics and suggested messaging to promote on various social media platforms. Please use this toolkit to share how your health center protects public health by providing high-quality healthcare to Oregonians. Elevating awareness is crucial to combating the threat to 340B!

CHC Toolbox